I focus almost exclusively on PvP, whether solo, small gang, or large bloc warfare. In the past, I've been a miner, mission runner, and faction warfare jockey. I'm particularly interested in helping high-sec players get into 0.0 combat.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Schrodinger’s Die

I want to mention what I’m not going to talk about. I’m not going to discuss what I think all the
TMC.com and RMT stuff means. I’m not
going to weigh in on my opinions about deriving RL profits from Eve
Online. I’m not going to discuss Endie’s
supposed leak.

That doesn’t come from a lack of opinions about it. On the contrary, I have very strong opinions
about it, what it means for the game, and what each of you should think about
it. No, I’m not going to discuss it
because – ultimately – none of that matters.

In the end, each of us establishes a sense of what we
believe is right and what we believe is wrong.
We each identify what we believe benefits and what damages the game as a
whole. And we each make judgments about
what we want to be part of. I’m not
going to get up on a soapbox and declare why I do what I do in this matter.

I made the choice to simulcast some articles for TMC.com for
250 mil each, the same agreement I had made with EN24 previously. I’m not going to sit here and criticize their
business plan if I’m participating in it.
I can tell you that I’ve never witnessed or heard about anything even
resembling RMT through the Trello, Slack, and web portal discussions,
interactions, or posts. Admittedly, my
“level” is at the very bottom, so don’t take that as a statement that no RMT is
going on; I simply haven’t seen any evidence of it first-hand.

But that’s not why I’m refusing to write about it; that
decision comes from the fact that nothing you, I, or anyone else says about it
matters. The only opinion worth a fig is
CCP’s. It’s their game, they control the
rules, and they adjudicate through an impenetrable wall.

It’s exactly the same decision they face with Somer Blink
and Erotica. Nothing we say will affect
their decision. Nor do they “owe” it to
use to explain. They could decide:

1)That
deliberate RMT is happening and they are going to tolerate it because GSF
provides content to the game.

2)That
RMT is happening and they’ll decide to ban everyone involved.

3)That
no RMT is happening and everyone’s peachy.

4)That
no RMT is happening, but they want to take steps to ban the leadership and
corporate wallet of GSF in an attempt to break up the CFC.

And, you know what?
Every one of those is within their power and sole purview. Eve is a game and their property, and their
decisions are all geared towards, at the end, pursue continued profits.

A lot of discussion has centered around trying to come up
with what is “fair” or what is “accurate”, when neither of those things
matter. Here’s what matters: CCP is
presented with an opportunity as a result of CCP Falcon responding to a reddit
post reminding players with information about TMC.com RMT to post a support
ticket.

That’s all that matters.
No one will ever know what evidence is submitted. No one will ever know whether RMT is actually
happening. CCP has very clear policies
of remaining tight-lipped about this stuff.

No matter what the truth is, CFC members will believe
TMC.com is innocent. “Grr Goons” camp
followers will believe they’re guilty.
The suspects will all claim their innocence no matter what happens. White knights will claim CCP must have acted
with cause for whatever they do. The
truth, as it turns out, is completely irrelevant to the fallout. The end of the story is already written; all
that is at stake is which camp will be up in arms. Everyone who may have an opinion has already
made his or her opinion, whether they want to admit it or not.

And we’ll never know.
The security team won’t divulge anything to the GMs. The CSM won’t get any more info than CCP
chooses to release. CCP will be damned
for any decision, so they’ll do whatever they deem beneficial to the game.

So, in light of all that, my opinion – and those of pretty
much anyone else – are worthless.

2 comments:

I'm not sure using SomerBlink and Erotica are the best examples. CCP investigated SomerBlink because of claims made by players and it is doubtful that Erotica1 would have been permabanned if not for public outcry. I agree that we probably won't be told what CCP's decision is on this one (at least from CCP) but I think it is a bit of a stretch to say "Nothing we say will affect their decision" if you are using those examples to generalize.

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